There has been a long running saga in Ohio concerning a science teacher named John Freshwater who was teaching creationism and propagating Christianity in other ways in his eighth grade science classes in a semi-rural community in central Ohio named Mount Vernon. He kept Bibles on his desk and posters of the Ten Commandments and other Christian messages hung on the walls.
When ordered by his school district to stop doing this, he not only refused but actually increased his religious activities. He was then fired and, as expected, complained that his religious freedom and freedom of speech rights were being violated. His case went all the way up to the Ohio Supreme Court where he lost last November by a 4-3 vote, with the judges ruling that his disobeying of rules were sufficient grounds for firing him. It should be noted that in Ohio, the Supreme Court judges are elected and have party affiliations. Six of the judges are Republican and just one is a Democrat.
But these people who want to be free to propagate their religious beliefs anywhere never give up and he filed a motion asking for the court to rehear his case. This week the Ohio Supreme Court rejected his request so this particular case seems to be finally well and truly settled.
But of course you can be sure that other teachers are doing similar things. In fact, Freshwater’s behavior only came to light because he seemed to not know any bounds and even used a Tesla coil to make a mark on a student’s arm that parents said looked like a cross.
moarscienceplz says
Now he gets to go on Faux News and all the AM radio natter shows to talk about how Christians are such an oppressed minority.
StevoR : Free West Papua, free Tibet, let the Chagossians return! says
More like *everywhere* I’d say although I guess anywhere works well too.
The bit about having posters on the teachers desk and stuff seems a bit odd to me, surely teachers should be allowed (within reason) to decorate their own desks as they wish -- but teaching creationism and pushing it on the class instead of having stuff there merely as personal affects is certainly wrong.
What the .. !? Isn’t that a form of child abuse? Was that done with or without the kids consent?
Mano Singham says
The courts found that keeping Bibles on his desk was ok but that the posters on the walls and talking about religions was not. Also, he was accused of insubordination because he directly defied the school district’s order to stop doing these things.
dean says
As I remember teachers in later grades had complained about him for years, as he had not been covering science in his class but had been going on with the creationism. Those complaints were ignored. It wasn’t until he had used a device to burn a cross on the arms of a couple students. In fact, from the wiki article on him (emphasis mine)
From a hearing he requested after he had first been terminated it came out that
This guy had been a disgrace and danger for many years, and it wasn’t until some parents actually got upset about their child having been burned that the administration took action.